Things are not looking good for President Obama’s re-election campaign.
For the first time, a 2012 Republican presidential candidate (namely Texas Governor Rick Perry) is polling ahead of him and his approval ratings are at an all-time low. He’s not had much luck reinvigorating the economy, and the Republicans have stonewalled most attempts at bipartisan compromise on major issues.
Obama has turned from an inspirational force for change into a president with his hands tied by a dysfunctional Washington, to which I say: grow a backbone!
The president has to be a force to be reckoned with in Washington, and it seems lately that Obama has been losing steam. The narrowly-avoided government shutdown all too clearly illustrated that “compromise” really just means “let the Republicans do what they like.”
More recently and most notably, House Speaker John Boehner rejected Obama’s request to schedule a joint session of Congress for his speech about jobs. While Obama requested that the speech take place Wednesday, Boehner insisted that the speech be moved to Thursday, citing Congress scheduling logistics.
The real reason, which became immediately apparent after Boehner’s rebuff, is that a Republican presidential debate is scheduled at the same time on Wednesday at the Reagan Library. Obama, in a stunning display of determination and assertiveness, rolled over and gave in to Boehner’s demands.
There are several things wrong with this scenario. First and foremost, why would anyone think it would be a good idea to schedule a presidential address during a GOP debate? I’m not even a Republican and I’d choose the debate in a heartbeat, if only for the entertainment value. If the timing was supposed to be a thinly-veiled attack on the GOP, it most certainly didn’t work, and any claims otherwise aren’t fooling anyone.
Secondly, if Obama really wanted that timeslot, than he should have fought for it. Boehner’s rejection was unprecedented: no presidential request for a joint session has ever been turned down. Furthermore, a strong stance from the President would have set a good tone for the upcoming session of Congress and maybe reinvigorated the lagging Democrats.
And just in case stepping aside on the speech wasn’t enough, Obama halted an Environmental Protection Agency regulation aimed at reducing smog on Friday. The regulation would have reduced ground-level ozone, an irritant emitted from cars and factories and causes asthma and other lung diseases. This return to Bush-era regulations has environmentalists up in arms and the American Lung Association threatening to sue the government, not to mention that this is a black mark against Obama for the tree-hugging portion of his constituency.
Republicans, of course, were elated, because for some reason more smog means more jobs. These pesky regulations block business growth, apparently, and employment is worth the asthma! Perhaps if more people die from smog-induced lung disease, their jobs will become available to others? Either way, the GOP is happy and Obama’s constituents are not, which doesn’t bode well for him.
Are these the actions of someone campaigning for re-election? Abandoning constituents and regularly deferring to the opposition? It certainly doesn’t look like it. Obama still has more than a year before election day, which is plenty of time to regain support and rally for a win, but first he just has to prove that he really wants to.
